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If you have been to one of our introductory breakfast seminars, you would know that a critical part of acquiring female customers is appealing to them emotionally (Emotive Rapport Building).
Women, in general, make purchase decisions on a more emotive level than men. This is due to the fact that the emotive centre in the brain, the amygdala, is proportionally larger in a female brain and is more active during decision making.
So how do you appeal to women emotionally and in a way that is relevant, powerful and engaging?
There are six key techniques to achieve Emotive Rapport Building. In this issue, we focus on three.
Emotive Rapport Builder # 1:
The Visual Appeal of Human Images, Relationships and Storytelling
Most people agree that men and women see things differently. But in a literal sense, their visual outlook in the world is chalk and cheese.
Scientists have done studies on babies as young as three days of age to examine what engages humans from a visual perspective. What they have discovered is that males and females are stimulated by very different visual pictures.
In general, men are more engaged with shapes, structures and objects where as women are more engaged with human faces, human interaction and emotive images that tell a story.
The most common mistake marketers make when advertising a product to women is focusing too much on the product and not enough on the story and the human emotive benefit the product provides.
Take the automotive industry for example and think about the last few ads you’ve seen for cars. If you’re lucky you might have seen an actual human in the ads but nine times out of ten the imagery will be focused on the car only. In fact, my sister just picked up a 24 page brochure for a four wheel drive she is looking to buy and the entire catalogue was devoid of humans (a few of the images actually showed the car on the road seemingly driving itself!)
When a woman is purchasing a car, she isn’t actually buying a car. She is buying an image of herself and her friends in that car or the feeling of safety she will experience when she is carrying her children in that car.
Unless the visual imagery represents that, creating an emotive connection with your consumer will be an uphill battle.
Emotive Rapport Builder # 2:
The Power of the Inner Circle
Today’s 30 year old woman has a life very different to that of her mother. She is likely to be earning good money, independent, career focused, single (and happy about it).
She doesn’t have a husband to consult in making big-ticket purchase decisions. In any one year, she is likely to be spending over $50,000 on a new car and over $5,000 on home electrics and furnishings.
So who does she turn to for advice and recommendations when she is purchasing these items? Her inner circle – usually two or three other girls that play a significant role in her purchase decisions. They even veto her subsequent brand choices.
Tapping into and harnessing the power of the inner circle comes firstly from an understanding of the power of this dynamic and how you can connect with your audience by including the inner circle in your advertising and brand materials.
By focusing less on your product and more on the inner circle, you will provide a powerful platform for connecting with women emotively.
Emotive Rapport Builder # 3:
Positive Reinforcement.
Your hormones are in disarray. You’re always tired and grouchy. You don’t want sex anymore. When you look in the mirror, you no longer see the person you once were …
...and so continues the copy for an ad promoting a menopause product in a misguided attempt to build rapport with female readers. Depressing reading even if you’re not menopausal!
Women experiencing menopause are going through a stage that for many of them, is emotional, tiring and distressing. They are looking for some positivity throughout the experience, either through their chosen treatment, their close friends and their inner strength and sense of humour. Reminding them of the overwhelmingly negative aspects of their life stage is alienating to say the least.
Women want the good news; they don’t want the bad news (even if it is an accurate description of what they are experiencing). Today’s average Australian female gets enough negativity about the world, her weight, child obesity, interest rate rises, the man drought, increasing infertility, breast cancer and terrorism to be reminded by advertisers about the negative and depressing side of life.
Use positivity, optimism and a healthy dose of humour in your advertising and you’ll find that you will create a stronger connection with women than the most accurate descriptions of being a woman ever could.
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